New study examines link between hospital care for self-harm and risk of death

A University of Manchester study which followed up 38,415 people admitted to hospital with self-harm has, for the first time, investigated the association between the treatment patients receive in hospital and their subsequent risk of death. Published in the Lancet Psychiatry, the study looked at adults who had self-harmed and attended five hospital emergency departments in Manchester, Oxford and Derby between 2000 and 2010. The researchers found that within 12 months, 261 had died by suicide and a further 832 had died from other causes. The study also examined the type of management which patients received. This included assessment by a mental health specialist, admission to medical or psychiatric beds and referral to a specialist community team. Professor Nav Kapur from The University of Manchester and Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust led the study. He said: "Hospitals have a number of strategies to use when people attend with self-harm, but no one has looked at the association of these with mortality risk on a large scale before.